One couple has turned their passion for home movies into a lucrative career — banking more than $1 million from their YouTube channel that’s probably best known for videos of their kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine toys.

Mark and Rhea, who go by the YouTube username “ilovemaything,” are the parents behind the popular YouTube channel Hulyan Maya. In fact, “popular” may be an understatement: According to Tubefilter, which posts weekly charts of the most-viewed YouTube channels, the Hulyan Maya channel was the 42nd most-viewed U.S. channel last week. With more than 26 million views in just seven days, it fell just below the channel for NBC’s The Voice.

The channel, which averages more than 3 million views a day, features Los Angeles parents Mark and Rhea (who chose not to reveal their last name to Yahoo Parenting) and their three children, 5-year-old Hulyan, 3-year-old Maya, and 5-month-old Marxlen. The majority of the videos — which are often more than 15 minutes long — feature the kids playing with Thomas the Tank Engine or Monster toys.

I think some of the keys to this family’s success is not only their consistency in posting every single day, but also in posting on a subject that has strong search terms (i.e. probably a lot of people search YouTube for specific toy names).

Have you ever tried posting videos on YouTube? Have you made any money doing so?

In 2007, I quit my job. I was a young mom of two children, and I hated going to work. I was blessed that I taught preschool and could take the kids to work with me, but almost every day I hoped and prayed that this day would be my last day of going to work.

And then the baby started getting sick. I couldn’t figure it out — I tried everything I could think of, but she just kept vomiting sporadically, and it became obvious to me that I needed to pull her out of the daycare setting and stay home.

So I quit.

My husband wasn’t all that thrilled with me (be careful what you wish for, right?)

[PS, my little one is now ABSOLUTELY FINE. We learned after some testing that she had Celiac Disease, and after being put on a gluten-free diet she made an immediate recovery and now is a super strong and healthy 10-year-old.]

Because we live in a tremendously expensive part of the country, I needed to quickly find a way to replace my income in order to meet our monthly expenses. I became determined (and slightly obsessed) at trying to find a legitimate way to make money from home.

I started living a secret life, and began answering work-at-home ads found in the back of parenting magazines, and on Craigslist.

They were all scams.

After months and months of searching, I started feeling lonely, afraid, and guilty. I knew that I had to find something that was “for reals” and that didn’t cost an upfront fee the way a lot of the online direct sales businesses I researched did.

So I tried my hand at blogging.

In 2008, I started a free blogspot blog at Crockpot365.blogspot.com and told the internet that I had a New Year’s Resolution to use my crockpot slow cooker every single day for a year.

And I did it.

This simple idea, this crazy and absurd idea, has since launched a full-time income for myself. This site has led to 5 books, numerous national TV and radio spots, endorsement opportunities, and a job.

A legitimate job that I do all by myself, from my own kitchen, in my fuzzy slippers, while I am home with my kids.

I truly couldn’t be any happier. I do believe, with all my heart, that I am living my version of The American Dream.

I’ve now had my site for 7 years, and decided to write down all that I’ve learned along the way. I’ve been lucky enough to mentor many other bloggers who have followed the steps that I took and they, too, have been successful.

Crystal has been gracious enough to provide the quote listed on the cover, which reads: “Stephanie’s practical advice and spot-on tips will give you the confidence and tools you need to start your own mommy blog.” — Crystal Paine

Want to win a copy of my new book? Enter below — and here’s to your blogging success!

Stephanie O’Dea is a New York Times best-selling author, slow cooking expert, and a mommy blogger. You can find her online at StephanieODea.com, or on twitter @stephanieodea.

My husband and I talk about pretty much everything. That’s one thing that we established well before going into marriage (we met when we were 9 and 10 and were good friends for years before we actually were in a serious relationship) and it’s the “glue” that holds our marriage together.

Since I’m a verbal processor and Jesse’s highest receiving love language (meaning: how he feels loved) is quality time, we spend a LOT of time talking. In fact, our friends tease us about how much we talk together because it’s rare that something happens that we don’t talk about it.

There’s No “Mine” or “Yours”

I truly believe that one reason we’ve been able to make a lot of financial traction in recent years is because we’ve really become a strong team when it comes to finances. We’ve set aside the whole “his money, her money” fights and made it all “our money”. We don’t talk about “your earnings vs. my earnings”; it’s all “our earnings”.

We don’t have separate bank accounts. We don’t make big financial purchases without consulting each other. We don’t give to a cause or need or person without both agreeing to it. And we don’t move forward with any long-term financial plan without both of us being on the same page about it.

Yes, We’ve Had to Learn to Compromise

We’ve had a lot of intense discussions about finances over the years, and while it sometimes takes a lot of talking and time and discussion, we’ve found ways to compromise so that we’re both feeling “heard” when it comes to our budget. (Such as having a blow category in our budget so that Jesse can have some wiggle room to enjoy spending money! Or cutting back in some areas so that my frugal self doesn’t feel like we’re wasting money.)

Over the years, the practice of making unity a priority when it comes to finances has paid off well. We have a lot less friction, we’ve grown in our communication skills, and we’ve learned a lot about the needs and fears we both have.

Thinking Long-Term About Property Investments

This past week, we sat down and talked about our long-term financial goals — especially when it comes to rental property investments. This is an area that we were just experimenting with for a year or two, not sure how it would work out. Well, it’s worked out really, really well.

Jesse has loved the process of researching areas to buy rental properties in, he’s loved reading and listening to books and podcasts on how to have a successful rental management business, he’s loved working with the rental management company we hired to manage our two houses in Kansas, and his enthusiasm for this whole idea has only been strengthened from a few years of doing it.

And not only that, but the cash flow from our rental properties has turned out to be a good income source, even after deducting all the expenses involved (such as taxes, rental management company percentages, maintenance, and repairs).

How We Saved This Week

We sat down and talked about all of that this week. We spent some time dreaming about the future and then talking realistically about where we want to be in 5 to 10 years. We talked about pros and cons to single family houses versus multi-family residences, where we wanted to purchase rentals in the future (Kansas, Tennessee, or somewhere entirely differently), and we talked about what was doable with what we’re able to save each month + the rental income we’re earning.

We set some short-term and long-term goals, we discussed a couple of big dreams, and we mapped out a game plan for the next few years. While I can’t tell you a dollar amount we saved (or earned) by having this discussion, I truly believe that taking the time to talk about these things in-depth will end up paying off in significant dividends and savings in the months and years to come.

What are some ways that YOU saved this week?

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